The quality meter for millennial humor seems to correlate with how much you would have to explain each part of the joke to someone who hasn't been following the trail of how the references came to be. Hence why the winner of the current plums trend is indisputably "left icebox none plums".posted by Space Coyote at 10:40 AM on December 4, 2017 [56 favorites]

I will say that per the article I think there's some meat on the bones of the intersection of the move to 280 characters and the recent riffing on WCW; the original poem has always been a little tight to work with on 140, so has lent itself to jarring edits to make do.

(so much depends
upon

an expanded character
count)

But I also have real strong feelings about the tendency of a lot of riffers to needlessly/guilelessly deviate from structural details of the poem, and the newfound freedom of movement in larger tweets doesn't seem to have done much there. Either depart aggressively from the form or respect it, don't half-ass that shit. This is internet poetry humor, it's important!posted by cortex at 10:53 AM on December 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

From the responses to the tweet in Space Coyote's link: Just explained it to my dad; he laughed then said this is why the conservatives hate you.

Hence why the winner of the current plums trend is indisputably "left icebox none plums".

That's so good, though. It's not just a meme mashup, it's a meme mashup that pivots brilliantly on the polysemy of "left" to resignify the structure of the original pizza meme. Minimalistic. Multilayered. Compared to the other examples in this thread, it's, like, a work of art.

I can't decide whether adding back the original "left" would detract from it (by being a little too close to grammaticality) or add to it (by dint of the additional resignification funtimes).posted by inconstant at 11:28 AM on December 4, 2017

See, this! This. People fuck up the structure at the end of the poem willy nilly, as if it doesn't matter, as if there was no structure other than "four lines" (and people fuck with even that, how many of these things just decide the middle stanza is three lines instead). The poem ends on such a good pair of beats, so x and so y, it should be the fuckin' firework display going off at the end of a riff but instead people just do whatever the hell they like and throw away an opportunity to truly stick the landing.

Why not instead e.g.

"...so many
and so old"

?

*nearly drops megaphone on lawn while hastily grabbing at windblown bathrobe*posted by cortex at 11:37 AM on December 4, 2017 [43 favorites]

I swear to god, I turn into a hysterical fangirl whenever a new one of these comes across my feed. My brain just flops to the ground and wallows in them like a dog in a carcass.posted by redsparkler at 11:43 AM on December 4, 2017 [13 favorites]

This was the best one ahem

“I heard there was a set of words
That the kids memed and confused the olds
But you don't really care for poems, do you?
Well it goes like this: the plums, the box,
The sweet cold taste, and the breakfast lost,
The baffling tweets reworking Carlos Williams”posted by The Whelk at 11:45 AM on December 4, 2017 [74 favorites]

I saw something somewhere that made a good case for today's young humor to be mostly built on punching up and building bridges (because punching down or across very quickly produces a kekscape devoid of joy and wit). This is how we get delightful things like Cold Pockets and Pronouncing Things Incorrectly. Mashing these wholesome memes up with with already highly-memeable poetry attempts to build a bridge to the olds who don't understand the memes of the young but definitely remember High Art from days gone by, and punches up against staid enforcement of poetic canon, among other things.

Icebox memes, icebox memes
Do a lot more than it seems
Punching up, reach across
You don't get it? That's your loss
Look out,
Ye mighty and despair!posted by infinitewindow at 11:54 AM on December 4, 2017 [14 favorites]

but instead people just do whatever the hell they like and throw away an opportunity to truly stick the landing.

I think people are mostly just bad at poetic rhythm, even some of the ones who appreciate that making a riff-y version of a poem is a fun thing to do. I've mostly made my peace with this, although reading limerick threads does usually end with me developing a Herbert Lom-esque eye twitch.posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:59 AM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

I really liked this comment from Popehat: "The way the Tamarians communicate through memes and allusions, previously ridiculous, seems increasingly plausible given modern practice."posted by tavella at 12:24 PM on December 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

So, like, being a Millenial and all, like, has nothing to do with, like, the year you were born?posted by infini at 12:33 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

If plums are five, if plums are five, if plums are five
Then the icebox is six, then the icebox is six
The icebox is six, the icebox is six and if the icebox is six
Then shoes are seven, then shoes are seven, then shoes are seven

This baby's gone to Heaven
This baby's gone to Heaven
This baby's gone to Heaven
This baby's gone to Heaven

I really liked this comment from Popehat: "The way the Tamarians communicate through memes and allusions, previously ridiculous, seems increasingly plausible given modern practice."

I mean, the prospect of communicating through memes and allusions was never really "ridiculous" in the sense of not being attested on a widespread cultural scale. If the current upsurge of memery and giffery is notable for anything, it's the aspect of rapid mutation/transmission (which is inimical to standardization/enshrinement as formal language).posted by inconstant at 12:36 PM on December 4, 2017

Twas a month before Christmas, and all through the Net
Every creature was meme-ing ‘bout fruit that was et
The smartphones and tablets were cradled with care
In hopes that the re-tweeters soon would be there

Millennials nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of icebox plums danced in their heads
And mamma on Facebook, and I on Snapchat
Had just posted some GIFs of a socks-wearing catposted by Atom Eyes at 1:10 PM on December 4, 2017 [23 favorites]

Whatever happened to predictability?
The icebox, the cold plums, breakfast for me?posted by cortex at 1:12 PM on December 4, 2017 [8 favorites]

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As if someone gently rapping, rapping at my icebox door
"'Tis some acquistor," I muttered, "tapping at my icebox door -
"After plums, and nothing more."posted by nubs at 1:15 PM on December 4, 2017 [17 favorites]

This is just to say
I have eaten your predictability
It was so-so.posted by Dumsnill at 1:15 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Plums, plums,
Oh so cold
In the icebox
No, I stoled
What immortal
Hand or eye
Could breakfast save?
Not you, nor I.posted by maxsparber at 1:15 PM on December 4, 2017 [9 favorites]

It used to be you could tell your friends a joke that someone somewhere on Earth had heard before and nobody would give you grief about not being the first person in human history to ever tell that joke. Twitter ruins everything.posted by straight at 1:24 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Take plums out of the ice box
They are so sweet and so cold
I know you were saving for breakfast, jack
These are two plums that you'll never get back!
I had to root, root, root through the ice box
Please forgive just the same
Because it's one, two, three plums I ate!
William Carlos William's the name!posted by maxsparber at 1:32 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

I will say that per the article I think there's some meat on the bones of the intersection of the move to 280 characters and the recent riffing on WCW; the original poem has always been a little tight to work with on 140, so has lent itself to jarring edits to make do.

There once was a millennial MeFite
Who viewed meme mashups with spite.
When asked why this was,
He answered, "Because
These plum jokes just don't come out right."posted by Greg_Ace at 1:39 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Sweet icebox plums (bah bum bum)
So delicious and so cold (so cold! so cold!)
Forgive me please (bah bum bum)
You were prob'ly saving them
For breakfastposted by infinitewindow at 1:41 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

My name is William Carlos Williams and this is just to say
I have stolen your plums in a major way
I know you wanted them for breakfast food
but so sweet and so cold they were my dudeposted by ckape at 1:43 PM on December 4, 2017 [12 favorites]

I'm so glad this has come to Metafilter. Here is mine:

There once was an icebox with plums
Delicious and sweet as they come
Which were saved for your breakfast
For the cold keeps them freshest
Forgive me for eating them, chum.

Iceboxes have little plums
Inside, and cold, and sweetum,
Breakfasts they have no plums
Because I go and eat'em.posted by maxsparber at 2:00 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Those sweet, cold, plums now I cannot lie
Your breakfast has gone bye-bye
When I went to the icebox place
And looked right in its space
I got plumsposted by Greg_Ace at 2:02 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Yeah, you're losing your plums
You're losing your plums
The poets are coming up from behind
You're losing your plums
You're losing your plums to Modernists and doctors
But they were there
They were there in 1934
They were there in the icebox in the kitchen
You're losing your plums
You're losing your plums to the poet whose poems you read when he steals your breakfast
You're losing your plums to the Imagist writer who can tell you every detail of every stone fruit from 1909 to 1939
You're losing your plumsposted by infinitewindow at 2:12 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

cold plums are sitting in my mouth, my mouthposted by cortex at 2:14 PM on December 4, 2017

I will not steal them from a box
I will not eat them with a fox
I do not like cold plums and ham
I do not like them
— Will.I.Amsposted by Atom Eyes at 2:14 PM on December 4, 2017 [15 favorites]

It's breakfast time out there somewhere
And your plums are not here
It's breakfast time out there somewhere
And your plums are not here.

And this is all in your kitchen
You are at the icebox
No point in looking any further
If you wanna find your missing plums.
You can have a complicated Russian breakfast
With nine different blini types
But don't bother checking your icebox
We'd appreciate it, thanks a lot,
Da da da, da da da, da da da.

William!
William's a jerk,
He ate the plums you saved for the morn
He ate the plums you saved for the morn
William's a jerk, and your plums are not here.posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:15 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

breakfast time
one more chance for sweet cold plums
so finish your—wait, they're not hereposted by cortex at 2:16 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

How does it feel to know I ate your plums
Which you kept inside your icebox to save for breakfast time?
I thought they were delicious, I thought they were so cold
Tell me please will you forgive me? Tell me please, please forgive me.posted by SansPoint at 2:16 PM on December 4, 2017

y'all mad now cos I'm eating your plums
from the same icebox
and nobody here will hold the sign up
while you hammer it inposted by infini at 2:18 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

From the ice-box to the text box
There is but one concern
I have just discovered :

Some plums are sweeter than others
Some plums are sweeter than others
Some plums' mothers are sweeter than
Other plums' mothersposted by Atom Eyes at 2:22 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Where is my poetry man?
Why has he done me wrong?
Why is my icebox empty?
Where have all the cold plums gone?posted by infinitewindow at 2:23 PM on December 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

I saw the latest Wondermark and was trying to figure out how to work it into an FPP. I was sure theora55 had beat me to it, but I didn't notice the strip among the links above, or did I overlook it?posted by zorseshoes at 2:24 PM on December 4, 2017 [7 favorites]

In the name of the most holy and individual Trinity: Be it known to all, and every one whom it may concern, or to whom in any manner it may belong: I ate your plum.posted by Dumsnill at 2:24 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

The plums take you down
To their place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside them
And you know that they're half-frozen but that's why you want to be there
And they feed you none and left beef that come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell them that you have no love to give them
They get you on their wavelength
And they let the twitter answer
That you've always been their loverposted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:30 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Who eats plums for breakfast, anyways?
Certainly not you, today
but generally speaking I mean.posted by notyou at 2:36 PM on December 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

You say
I took plums from your icebox
And you say
I talk so sweet so cold, soposted by cortex at 2:39 PM on December 4, 2017

I want to be your
Plum spammer
Why don't you call my name
Oh let me be your
Plum spammer
This will be my testimonyposted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:41 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Plum on me
(plum on me)
Plum me on
(plum on me)
I'll be plum
In a babyshoooooooooooe!posted by Dumsnill at 2:45 PM on December 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

This is just to say that I have awarded my sole Twitter favorite for this meme to:

I like cold plums and I cannot lie
Your icebox tries but it can't deny
Me when I want to put some cold plums in my face
They will go right to my waist
I'm sorry, this is to sayposted by hanov3r at 2:56 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

>the latest Wondermark I like Wondermark, but missed it. thanks, zorseshoes.posted by theora55 at 2:58 PM on December 4, 2017

I love you, icebox pluuuuuums
Icebox plums, I love you, ye-esss I doooo-ooooo-oooo
I love you, icebox pluuuu-uuuu-uuuuums
Icebox plums, I love you, ye-esss I do
And on the lazy days
The red wheelbarrow glazed with rain
Beside the chickens, they are white
The day we are awaitiii-iiingposted by Atom Eyes at 2:58 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

I feel like a nosh
(but baby I ate your plums)
I'll check the icebox
(but baby I ate your plums)
I've got some—wait, hold—
(so sweet and so cold)
on what the hey—
(forgive me this is just to say)posted by cortex at 4:15 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Where have all the cold plums gone?
Long tme passing,
Where have all the cold plums gone,
Long time ago?
Where have all the fridge plums gone?
Williams ate them everyone.
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn?posted by Oyéah at 5:32 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Oh the plums in the fridgie
They are all departed and gone.
They were waiting for me
When I felt that I just can't go on.
Their comfort was theory
The reality is they are gone.
I hope you run over him,
You who've been traveling so long.

Oh you who must leave everything
That you cannot control.
It begins with your fridgie
And later comes down to your soul
If your chum is a thief
And the season for plums early ends
He will blind you with love
That is graceless as plum pits and skins.posted by Oyéah at 5:52 PM on December 4, 2017

Tolk sat dumb in his cavern slum,
Saved and shared a stone from a plum,
With Willy Carlos and lack-lock icebox,
Fresh fruit was scarce to come fast.
Done fast! Gum fast!
In a cave in the hills with his poet chum
And plums were ne'er for break-fast.posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:56 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Of man's first disobedience
And the fruit of that forbidden fridge
That brought sweet into our world and also cold
With lots of eating til one guilty man
Restore us and regain that tasty treat
Sing, dankest of memes...posted by Chrischris at 6:00 PM on December 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

in the villa of allplums in the villa of allplums
stands a solitary icebox
aah aah
aah ahh
at the centre of it all at the centre of it all
your ice
​
something happened as breakfast is told
his plums already eaten maybe sold?
forgive me so delicious and so cold
I'm a black plum I'm a black plum
​posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 6:20 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

A long long time ago
I can still remember
How that icebox used to make me smile
And I knew if I'd had a chance
I'd've kept my breakfast in my pants
Then maybe I'd be happy for a while

But that short note it made me shiver
With the message it delivered
Don't know how it happened
He surely caught me nappin'
I can recall that I was glum
When I read about the purloined plums
It really made me feel quite dumb
The day he ate my plums

I'ma take take take take take a dump
Take a dump from all your plums
My plums my plums my plums my plums my plums
My plums my plums my plums my sweet and stollen plumsposted by The Great David S. Pumpkins at 6:59 PM on December 4, 2017 [6 favorites]

I got a letter from the government the other day,
Opened it and read it, it said I was plum out,
They're making free with my icebox or whatever,
Picture me breaking my fast, now that's never!posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 7:47 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

When I was just a baby
My mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy
Don't ever steal plums"
But I took them from your icebox
And this is just to say
I hope you can forgive me
This meme won't go awayposted by pernoctalian at 7:54 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

I literally have a bag of 22 ripe plums in my fridge waiting to be made into preserves this evening and I will be reopening this thread to croon through tears of laughter at them as they bubble away in purple joy. Perfect timing, thank you!posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:55 PM on December 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

I stole sweet plums from your icebox, man were they delicious!
Please forgive my larceny, it really was pernicious
If you need to punish me, I hope you won't be vicious
I stole sweet plums from your icebox, man were they delicious!posted by Atom Eyes at 8:08 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ice box baby
Ice box baby
All right stop
Appropriate and glisten
Ice is back with my brand new invention
Plum juice dripping down unsightly
Flowing sweetly to the ground morning noon and nightly
Will it ever stop?
Yo, I don't know
Maybe you should head back to the store and get some moreposted by The Great David S. Pumpkins at 9:24 PM on December 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will mimic usposted by pjenks at 9:40 PM on December 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said, "What a good boy am I!"posted by infini at 1:47 AM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Why are there so many
Songs about cold plums
And boxes with no plums inside?

Your sweet plums for breakfast
Are now just a mem'ry;
Iceboxes have nothing to hide.

I claim I'm sorry and you may believe that
Forgive me or not, I don't care.
Someday you'll taste it,
A cold plum confection,
But now it's just Williams and me.posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:01 AM on December 5, 2017 [5 favorites]

You'd think that people would have had enough of silly plum songs
I look around me and I see it isn't so, oh no.
Some people want to fill the world with silly plum songs
And what's wrong with that
I'd like to know
Cause here I go again...posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:04 AM on December 5, 2017 [6 favorites]

stone fruit cut into pieces
for sale and never worn
refrigeration
shoes: baby
I ate the plums you were probably savingposted by Dokterrock at 10:32 AM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was looking all through your refrigerator
Looking for some fruit I could bite
With every bit of that late night hunger
Giving pangs, bringing tears to my eyes
I was seriously thinking about eating a tomato
But I through it out 'cause it had mold
Then I saw plums and I couldn't believe
They really were so sweet and so cold

Sweet plums are a snack salvation
Cold plums are feeding the nation
You say you were saving them for your breakfast
So please forgive me because I was so reckless
And you had better buy a few more plums
You'd better eat them before they're goneposted by SansPoint at 11:58 AM on December 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

There's a lady who's sure
In the icebox so cold
Are some plums that she bought for her breakfast
When she gets up she knows
If the icebox is closed
Through the door she can get what she came for
Oh oh some plums that she bought for her breakfast

There's a note on the fridge
But she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In the trash by the sink
There's the bag from the grocer
Looks like all of her plums are now missing

Don't tell me you don't know what plums are
When they're cold enough to taste better
When you find no plums in your icebox
When your breakfast turns out to be a no-go
I'm a man who just ate them, and this is just to say that...

You're giving me a longing look
Every day
Every day
Every day I'll eat the plums.posted by hanov3r at 1:57 PM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

You are my plumshine my only plumshine
you make me happy this is just to say
you'll never know dear how cold delicious
please don't take my sweet plums awayposted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 2:22 PM on December 5, 2017 [4 favorites]

You threw a bag in the fridge,
Took a look, hey look at this
Those fucking plums looked delicious,
And now they're in my belly

I'd trade my soul for a bite,
Such sweet cold delight
I wasn't looking for this,
But now they're in my belly

Look at what's happened to me
I can't believe it myself
Suddenly I've taken from the icebox
The fresh plums of somebody else

Believe it or not, I ate all your plums
I never thought about what you would eat
Sweet, cold, and ripe, I couldn't resist
Who else could it be?
Believe it or not, forgive me.posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:18 AM on December 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

*grabs sack of potatoes and makes a run for it while everyone has their eyes on the plum*posted by infini at 6:24 AM on December 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sweet snack for a change
See the lack of fruit can make a good man turn bad
So please, please, please
Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me
I've eaten all you saved this time

Haven't had a plum in a long time
See the icebox keeps them so cold
So this is to just say, let me eat what I want
Lord knows, they were so delicious
Lord knows, they were so deliciousposted by rjd at 1:16 PM on December 6, 2017

I got somethin' to say!
I ate your plums today and
I hope you'll forgive me
'cause they were so cold

And I got somethin' to say!
I sold baby shoes today and
it doesn't matter that much to me
'cause they were unwornposted by Pope Guilty at 1:30 PM on December 6, 2017

Baby I just ate your plums
Left a note 'cause I'm dumb
Baby I just ate your plums
Please baby forgive me
So sweet, so-so cold, yeah!posted by SansPoint at 1:47 PM on December 6, 2017

Well she was an icebox-havin' girl
Raised on probablies
Couldn't help thinkin' there
Was a little bit of plum, cold and sweetposted by cortex at 6:31 PM on December 6, 2017

If you like eatin' someone's breakfast, and stealin' tasty produce
If you're not into yogurt or some chilled orange juice
If you like takin' from the icebox some dee-licious fruit
I'm the one that you've looked for, just an old contrite cootposted by Greg_Ace at 6:59 PM on December 6, 2017

I've eaten plums from both sides now
So sweet, so cold and still somehow
It's someone's breakfast I recall
You really won't forgive, at allposted by Greg_Ace at 7:05 PM on December 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

In a dark frosty icebox, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of leftovers rising up through the air
Way back in the corner, I saw some delicious plums
My stomach empty with a growling din
I had have me someposted by Greg_Ace at 7:13 PM on December 6, 2017 [1 favorite]

There's cold plums in your icebox and they're looking good
They were there for your breakfast, that's understood
But they were so sweet and cold that I ate them up
I hope you'll forgive me as I leave this note

Had TO have. Must've lost it in some edit and didn't notice. Dammit.posted by Greg_Ace at 7:50 PM on December 6, 2017

It's gonna take a lot of forgiveness, ooh
There's nothing for breakfast-time, what will you do
I ate the plums down in our icebox
Gonna take some time to write a note of what I hadposted by Greg_Ace at 7:51 PM on December 6, 2017

Sorrys are sorry
Breakfast is dumb
Saving's too taxing
Might as well plumposted by cortex at 9:09 PM on December 6, 2017 [3 favorites]

Ooh, a Dorothy Parker reference? Classin' up the joint!posted by Greg_Ace at 9:37 PM on December 6, 2017

I shall be entreating forgive-ness
For simply ages and ages hence;
Two plums sat in an icebox, and I—
I took them for myself to possess,
And that has made all the deliciousness.

...yeah, maybe I should just go to bed now...posted by Greg_Ace at 10:01 PM on December 6, 2017

Solomon Just Say
Plum on a Monday
Icebox on Tuesday

Saving on Wednesday
Prob'ly on Thursday
Breakfast on Friday

Cold-sweet on Saturday
Sorry on Sunday
That was the end
Of Solomon Just Say.posted by cortex at 7:50 AM on December 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

While we may be patting ourselves on the back for being ahead of the curve on William Carlos Williams, remember that Naughty by Nature has been down with Other People's Plums since 1991.posted by ckape at 2:26 PM on December 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Begin the day with an empty fridge
And a post-it unobtrusive
Those eaten plums are so elusive
But they were delicious, so sweet and so coldposted by DoctorFedora at 3:15 PM on December 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Way late to the party, but:

With the plums on my head
I was about three feet taller
Than the icebox.posted by blue shadows at 12:28 AM on December 10, 2017

Sorry to interrupt - ohkay, can you please check your Memail.posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:37 AM on December 19, 2017

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